fellow

senior fellow

manager

The Brookings Institution

The brilliant minds of Brookings are not in the non-research departments. Working in Finance was a horrible experience. Even if you do finance-related work in one if the research departments, the way they have set up their “systems” is a backwards, patched-up, manual mess, filled with duplications, disorganization, and very inefficient procedures in place. However, if you try to suggest improvements your ideas will all get shut down. They want to pile on a ridiculous amount of work and if you tell them it’s unsustainable they tell you it’s “what you signed up for”. Then there’s the stiff and toxic environment, full of cliques, cattiness, personal agendas, and backstabbing, insecure supervisors who set you up to fail. There is also obvious preferential treatment of some employees (some get promoted twice in one year for no obvious reason) and unfair treatment of minorities. The whole experience was a traumatizing, depressing nightmare, with a low salary, so-so benefits, no room for professional growth. One senior employee was so unhappy there he quit without finishing his last 2 weeks He texted his direct reports to say that he couldn’t “take another day of this” and never went back.

Brookings is an amazing place to work - you will be right in the middle of Washington policy, meeting all sorts of amazing thinkers in a wide range of fields (economics, politics, foreign policy, national security, etc.). The challenge is advancement, both on the research side and the administrative side. Rarely does anyone advance to another position. Staff are often told that Brookings is a great feather in your cap, so if you want to advance, put Brookings on your resume and go advance elsewhere. That is a shame, but there are only so many positions there. With little staff movement, there is no way to move up. That said, salaries and benefits at Brookings are great, so it is hard to leave. People are willing to stay in their same positions for years and years.

Scholars have agency and more opportunities for promotion. All "support staff" are treated like second class citizens in everything. Despite being hired as an expert in non-scholar related fields, they're not treated as such at work. For "junior" staff it's even worse. I worked with several 35 years old who were never promoted past program or research assistant just because they worked in development or communications. There's no room or opportunities for advancement for junior staff or those who fall in between mid and entry level and do a ton of good work with little pay.

Great work environment overall. Brilliant, motivated colleagues are inspiring to be around and the mission is fulfilling. 

Downsides are that the org is highly compartmentalized and extremely hierarchical. It can be difficult to establish a network beyond your department.

Advice to new hires: attend the wonderful networking events hosted by the various peer led staff organizations (Brookings Network, Womens Impact Network, Brookings Data Network) and get involved more broadly. 

It was a great place to work (while it lasted).  The head of the Press department considers employees to be a cost center rather than a resource and makes extremely rash decisions. There is no job security and multiple positions and people were cut within the 1 year that I worked here.  The severance package given to employees is minimal for such a prestigious institution.

Brookings is truly a wonderful place to work, however if you don't have a PHD or aren't directly in policy then the pay is incredibly low. The benefits are amazing (5 weeks PTO + additional sick leave, great health insurance, dental, 403(b) that they match after 2 years). You are exposed to a lot of really awesome people.

Much of the time, interns were given mundane and low-skilled tasks without very many meaningful projects to keep them motivated. Some of the interns never even met the scholars for whom they were supposed to work. Personally, my supervisors were not committed to my personal growth and failed to recognize such growth when it did occur.

I was doing pre-screen interview calls, reference checks, selection interviews, updating job descriptions and hence, I was constantly interacting with people which was the most exiting part of the work.
I learnt the ways of analyzing candidates for short listing them for a job. This was the most challenging part of the work.

Unless you have a PHD prepare to be looked down upon. I had a manager who was incredibly toxic and when I started to collect evidence (after trying to discuss directly with them to move forward) and talked to HR nothing happened. Slowly was removed from work and then let go. Most people so far removed from the research they are working on.

Everyone is dedicated, focused, and hungry to learn about something. My colleagues are humble and approachable, and look to continually improve the institution's quality of impact on society and it's staff. It's definitely heading in the right direction.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Fellow 2 salaries reported	$184,600 per year
Senior fellow 1 salary reported	$289,800 per year
Manager 1 salary reported	$77,500 per year

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